Tipping Point -- Game element identification needed

[lizardling]

I was playing an online Flash game called ‘Tipping Point’ which you can try out from here. Specifically, in the third chapter, there’s a tableful of electronic doodads of which I have the fondest memories from when I was a tiny lizardling. A Speak N Spell, an Atari computer (ooooo! aaaaah!), etc.

If you want to skip forward to the third chapter and go straight to the table, here’s the code.

FREEKL.

Directions for getting to the table, which is pretty close to the beginning of the chapter:

When the chapter opens, you’ll be in a forest looking at a parrot. Go left, and pick up the ladder. Then go back past the parrot until the treehouse. Use the ladder to get into the treehouse. Turn right. Look on the table.

The element that I need identified is this red phonelike electronic gizmo with the necessary 70s futuristic styling. This thing was called a ‘Merman’, which was also branded on the ‘earpiece’ in letters similar to Comic Sans. The ‘body’ had blank round LED buttons in a square of nine, then two more buttons centered vertically through the square. Finally, the ‘mouthpiece’ had a block of four labelled buttons – New Game, etc.

As soon as I saw that thing, I remembered playing with the one that my older cousins’d had, and started rummaging around online to try to find more information.

Google, Y! Search, Live Search, ebay… Unfortunately my search-fu has failed me, Ethel Merman, fairy tales, video games, and He-Man stuff aside.

Help me, SDMB! You’re my last hope before I go nuts trying to find online information about how the durn thing worked.

[Green_Eyed_Stranger]

@lizardling

I was playing an online Flash game called ‘Tipping Point’ which you can try out from here. Specifically, in the third chapter, there’s a tableful of electronic doodads of which I have the fondest memories from when I was a tiny lizardling. A Speak N Spell, an Atari computer (ooooo! aaaaah!), etc.

If you want to skip forward to the third chapter and go straight to the table, here’s the code.

FREEKL.

Directions for getting to the table, which is pretty close to the beginning of the chapter:

When the chapter opens, you’ll be in a forest looking at a parrot. Go left, and pick up the ladder. Then go back past the parrot until the treehouse. Use the ladder to get into the treehouse. Turn right. Look on the table.

The element that I need identified is this red phonelike electronic gizmo with the necessary 70s futuristic styling. This thing was called a ‘Merman’, which was also branded on the ‘earpiece’ in letters similar to Comic Sans. The ‘body’ had blank round LED buttons in a square of nine, then two more buttons centered vertically through the square. Finally, the ‘mouthpiece’ had a block of four labelled buttons – New Game, etc.

As soon as I saw that thing, I remembered playing with the one that my older cousins’d had, and started rummaging around online to try to find more information.

Google, Y! Search, Live Search, ebay… Unfortunately my search-fu has failed me, Ethel Merman, fairy tales, video games, and He-Man stuff aside.

Help me, SDMB! You’re my last hope before I go nuts trying to find online information about how the durn thing worked.

I think (I haven’t loaded the game yet, but I remember having something like your description when I was a kid) you’re looking for merlin.

[dbuzman]

Yeah, it’s a merlin. You would turn it on and the object was to either get all the lights on or off. Can’t remember which.

[lizardling]

:smack: :smack: :smack:

That would explain it. I was searching on the name used in the game and didn’t consider (or notice) that it might have been munged to avoid trademark issues. :smack:

Thanks to both of you for correctly identifying what the heck it was and how it worked. Now I can rest, my burning question having been answered.